"The more the better," said Kraft, general manager of the Eastern Shore Centre on Ala. 181 in Spanish Fort. "You can't have enough ladies shoes and women's ready-to-wear stores."

Women everywhere would applaud that observation, but they are too busy looking for the next hot retailer. It's also a constant quest to bring the latest and greatest retailers to local shopping centers. Who will be the next Forever 21, a hot fashion store at Bel Air Mall in Mobile, or Charming Charlie, a popular clothing store at Eastern Shore Centre?

Publix Super Market, the much sought-after grocer, will likely locate two stores in Mobile next year, commercial Realtors said. The chain is also pursuing another store site on the Eastern Shore, they said.

"When a national retailer looks at Mobile they see Airport Boulevard and say that's where they want to be," said Sutherland. Lots of restaurants are interested, but there are not many good spaces still available on Airport Boulevard, he said.

The Mobile area is not at the top of the list for upscale national and regional stores, according to Sutherland.

"The Gulf Coast is a Walmart market," he said. "It's our lifestyle tenant, not Bloomingdales."

Chris Tilley of Langley Property, which leases and manages Pelican Place on Ala. 59 in Gulf Shores, said that development wants to add to its fashion offerings.

"There are some good ones out there," said Tilley. "The problem is, there's lots of space available, and you have to find one that blends with the other fashion you have.

"It's a tough market, but getting better. At the Gulf, you have to have stores that appeal to locals like Target, and then appeal to tourist with boutiques that they can't get at home."

Tim Nolan, general manager of Bel Air Mall, said there are no large voids in the retail mix of shops in a mall that is almost fully leased.

"We're always looking for the next hot retailer out there," he said. "Right now we have a preference for food, we don't have quite enough food."

Buck's Pizza and Rock and Roll Sushi have recently opened at the mall.

"We're talking to everybody," Kraft said. "Most people want to target the national tenants who are more creditworthy. The mom-and-pop stores, it's a roll of the dice. It's hard for mom-and-pops in a mall. You have to manage your money differently, have to stay open the mall hours and you've got a lot of people who have never run a store before and they have no idea how hard it is."

The story is different in smaller strip centers. There, local retail and community-related service tenants are key, according to Jean Lankford of J.A. Lankford & Co. in Mobile.

"We love mom-and-pops, and we encourage mom-and-pops to have locations closer to homes," Lankford said. "I think a multi-functional strip center is far better for the community. It keeps people coming in for many different reasons and helps everybody's sales."

There will also be some retailers who follow Publix and locate near the planned stores, according to David Dexter of White-Spunner & Associates in Mobile.

"There's some low hanging fruit out there for Mobile's retail market," Dexter said. "We're poised to rebound, but not in the first quarter of 2011."